Rhina Guidos The load of worries carried on the shoulders of José Gregorio Guarenas, coordinator of Human Rights for the Vicariate of Caracas at the Archdiocese of Venezuela, is heavy. His work doesn’t solely focus on concerns affecting the life of members of the Catholic Church, such as recent cases of nuns facing obstacles in…
Notebook Can I begin this month by sharing a brain teaser liberally mixed in with a fair amount of name-dropping. Last week I celebrated Mass in four different countries. However in all four countries the congregation was made up of pretty much the same people, the choir consisted of a list of Irish household names…
How nice to see – now that restrictions are lifting – couples returning to their wedding plans, which so many put on hold during the course of the pandemic. And although church weddings have fallen in Ireland, they haven’t fallen at all as much as in neighbouring nations. Fewer than a quarter of weddings in…
The View In March last year the bishops announced a new synodal pathway leading to a national synod assembly or assemblies. The purpose of that process was to answer one question – “What does God want from the Church in Ireland at this time?” Some 500 people or groups wrote in to answer the question…
Remaking classics to fit in with modern feminist sensibilities violates the spirit of Tolkien, writes David Quinn The first Lord of the Rings movie, The Fellowship of the Ring, was released 20 years ago in December. Directed by Peter Jackson it was a faithful adaptation of the book of the same name by JRR Tolkien…
An old saying has it that “journalism is the first draft of history”. Frankly, I’ve always been a bit dubious about that claim. In my experience, and to paraphrase John Lennon, history often seems to be what happens while journalists are talking about other things. Here’s a quote from historian Arnold J. Toynbee in his…
Andrea Gagliarducci According to Vatican sources, the establishment of diplomatic relations with Beijing is not on the horizon, despite what some recent appointments might suggest. On January 31, the Vatican said Msgr Arnaldo Catalan, its representative in Taiwan, was being posted to Rwanda, where he will serve as apostolic nuncio. Days later on February 5, Msgr…
The concept of chastity has fallen on hard times. Several years ago, I was invited to speak to a group of students at a Catholic university. The invitation came with a request and a caveat. I was to speak on chastity, but ideally, I was to avoid using the word. The Dean of Theology, who…
Picture the scene: the Hill of Tara in August 1843, and a huge crowd has gathered for the largest of Daniel O’Connell’s ‘Monster Meetings’ in support of repealing the Act of Union. The great man himself processed through the thronged masses accompanied by a harpist, but there were other harpists there that day – five…
The View Times are hard for many people and particularly so for people of faith, who see their cherished values being undermined in so many different ways. That’s why I found a recent event that both my adult daughters were involved in so cheering. Along with seven other leaders, they took a group of almost…
Mary Kenny
Nuala O’Loan
David Quinn
John L. Allen Jr.
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Breda O'Brien